Cutting Room Floor
by seilleanmor
Summary: Missing scenes from the series as a whole. For Alexis.
1. In the Belly of the Beast

_For my darling Alexis (you may know her as stanacatic on tumblr). There are only forty minutes in an episode, not enough to show everything, and so she gave me a list of scenes she wishes we could have seen and I'm going to fill in the gaps for her. Not in any sort of order._

* * *

_**6.17 In the Belly of the Beast**_** – reunion scene**

* * *

Castle phone rings in his pocket and he tugs it out with trembling hands. His body is a livewire, a mess of panic and guilt and _ohgodKate_. The number flashing up on his screen isn't one he recognises – he already knows it isn't her because it wasn't her ringtone – but maybe it's. . .something. A ransom call?

Could be.

He swats at Esposito, pulls the detective's attention away from Captain Gates, and then he swipes his finger across the screen to answer the call. "Castle."

"Babe- it's. . .it's me." His fiancée's voice comes crawling across the distance between them, the phone line (and god knows what other trauma) making it crackly and foreign but still her, such a flood of relief that he's sitting down before he even realises it.

"Kate. Kate. Where are you?" He grits out, scrubbing a hand down his face. There's a sudden flurry of activity as Espo and Ryan realise that it's Beckett on the phone, that she's alive, and hurry from the bullpen to find Tory and Gates. "Sweetheart, oh God, where are you?"

There's a strangled noise that could be a sob, a groan of protest as if she's trying to stand but her body just won't cooperate with her. He can imagine all too readily what she's been through and it makes his heart thrash in his chest, his whole body thrumming with the desperate need to just get to her.

"I'm not sure. Can you- trace the call?"

The team comes running back into the bullpen and Rick's head snaps up. Tory makes it to him first and holds her hand out; he switches the phone to speaker before he hands it over and follows Tory to the tech room. "Tory's here right now, Beckett. We're tracing it. Are you safe?"

"I- think so?" She says. There are noises like branches breaking underfoot, a crash, and then she hisses. He paces back and forth in front of the desk as Tory fiddles with his phone, working as fast as she can to get a trace on the call.

"Where are you, Kate?"

"I don't _know_." She moans, so brittle that even Esposito is clenching his fists and turning away. "The woods. They took me out here to. . .to kill me. But Elena, she- I'm safe. But cold. Please hurry."

Oh God. He will do anything, _anything_, to get to her. "We are, Kate. Just hold on for me baby, please. Just hold on."

"M' tired." She says, but before he can beg her not to fall asleep, not to succumb to shock in the middle of the woods, Tory's voice is ringing out triumphantly.

"I got it!"

"Let's go." Espo says, pushing on Castle's shoulder to get him to move.

Grabbing his cell phone back from Tory, he takes it off of speaker and presses it to his ear again. He doesn't even hear the pained crackle of her breathing anymore and the bottom falls out of his world for the fourth or fifth time today. "Kate, are you there? Beckett!"

"I'm here." She whispers. He knows what it means when her voice gets like this, her words slurred and her breath support gone. Means she's wiped out, about to crash.

Mostly, it comes at night with the sweat-slick brush of her skin against his and her smile buried at the crease of his neck. But not this time.

This time, she is going to die if they don't get there soon and get her to a hospital. "I need you to stay awake for me, okay? Stay on the phone, keep talking to me."

"I'm gonna try to find the van." She murmurs, her voice quiet and low and pitched just for him. Even the woods are watching; he can hear the way her PTSD is creeping slowly inside of her, rotting in her guts and sending fissures out across her skin.

If she has a panic attack alone in those woods-

They have to get to her. "Espo."

"I know, Castle."

He lets himself be hustled out of the elevator and into the parking garage. Down here, the air cool and the lights too bright, he can almost hear the clack of Beckett's heels on the tarmac at his side. "Beckett. What van?"

"Harden's. It'll be warmer." Her teeth are chattering, he hears it in her voice, and already he's planning. Scrolling through in his mind all the hot, beautiful countries he's going to take her too. The beaches they're going to stretch out on and let the sun lick over their skins.

Esposito opens the door and pushes Castle into the back of his cruiser, sliding into the driver's seat. Ryan joins him in the passenger side and starts fiddling with the GPS as they peel out of the parking garage and join the flow of traffic out of the city.

"Kate, we're in the car. We're on the way. Just hold on for me, please." He begs her, hears the discordant night-noise of the woods in the background of their call.

It's nearing six am; he will have his arms around her by sunrise.

She's just breathing over the line next to him, just breathing, and then he hears a strangled sound of relief and she chokes out another sob. "Castle- found the van. Took the keys from his body."

"Get warm, Kate. Get warm. But please don't drive. Don't move. Sit tight." He feels his words jumbling together, crowding inside his mouth to get out. He can't decide which are the most important ones, and more than anything he just wants to say that he loves her.

But he won't do that, won't say that. Not until he can see her face.

"Don't think I could." She manages a strangled laugh for him, and then he hears the roar of the van's heaters on full blast and prays that they'll kick in quickly. "Castle-" she moans. "Hurts."

"I know" He doesn't, he has no _idea_ what they've done to her. But she's breathing, talking, she made it to the van. And that's so much better than what he was imagining. Her bleeding out all alone on the forest floor with rotten detritus crowding her nose.

"When will you be here?"

He leans forward, glances at the ETA the navigation system is showing. Shit. "Uh- about forty minutes."

"Local PD will be with her in five." Ryan says, twisting in his seat to look at Castle.

Right, of course. They're not the knights in shining armour. And yes, they're charging to her rescue, but the boys have already been in touch with the New Jersey cops. "Cops will be with you in five minutes, Kate. We'll meet you there. Can you put the van lights on? Make it easier for them to see you."

"Cops. . .but not you." She says, as if testing the truth of it.

"Not me. But soon. I'm on my way. I'm coming, Kate." He pleads with her, the words like benediction. He wants to be the one to rescue her, silly though that may be. But he can't be, he can't be, and he's so grateful for the New Jersey PD, for whoever will be there with her in about three minutes, now.

He hears a sigh, and then she's coughing, a terrible sound that lasts forever. Lasts so long that he hears voices over the line, the blessed relief of the cops that have finally made it to her. "Detective Beckett? We've got an ambulance here."

There are noises he doesn't understand, tries not to dwell on, and then a man's voice comes over the line. "Hello?"

"Hi." He splutters, scrubbing a hand down his face. "I'm Rick Castle, Beckett's fiancé. How is she?"

"The EMTs have got her, Mr Castle. She's just getting some oxygen, but she seems okay. Coherent, at the very least."

He's trembling now, and he feels the too-warm slip of tears down his cheeks. How badly he wants to be there for this, hold her hand while she gets checked out. "Thank you."

"I'm going to have to hang up, I'm afraid. What's your ETA?"

"About twenty five minutes." He says, and then the officer on the other end of the call is saying something else he doesn't even hear. The dial tone shakes him out of it and he stares at his phone, rests it on his knee in case it rings again. In case she calls back.

He rests his cheek to the window, the cold spreading its numbing fingers out wide across his face. When they finally, finally make it to where she is the salt has made his face stiff and his eyes are swollen. The boys are kind enough not to mention it.

The cruiser pulls to a stop and Rick goes tumbling out of the door, falling to one knee in the gravel. Scrambling to his feet, he runs for the ambulance and climbs halfway inside before he realises that she isn't here. "Where's Beckett?"

The EMT offers him a sympathetic look. "She went to take the cops to the body."

"You let her?" He says, incredulous. Can't understand why a _medical professional_ would let her just go wandering about in the woods in the middle of the night.

Well. Not the middle of the night anymore. The horror has rolled right around into morning and the sky has that bruised, purpling look to it as if fighting the sunrise.

"She seemed up to it. And it. . .didn't seem like she'd take no for an answer."

That has the corner of his mouth quirking up almost entirely without his permission. Of course she would want to be strong in front of the Jersey cops. Of course she'd persuade the EMTs that she's fine.

It's only him, only him who has the honour of seeing her crumble. Who gets to hold the cherished pieces of her in his hands until she's strong enough to put them back together. "Right. Sounds like her."

There's a commotion at the border where the woods meet the edge of the parking lot and his head snaps towards it. He watches the wide swing of the flashlight beams, figures all clad in black shifting like shadow among the trees. They seem ancient, but not wise or loving as he usually imagines. These woods, these trees, have seen a terror they keep knotted inside, safe behind the bark.

He moves away from the ambulance, headed to join Ryan and Esposito at the boundary to the woods. And then one of the shadowy figures detaches itself from the seething mass of bodies and comes flying towards him.

Kate's hands come up around his shoulders and he lifts her off of the ground, squeezing tight as he bands his arms at her waist. Her nose is buried at his neck, her tears hot where they slip underneath the collar of his shirt, and he palms the back of her head as he sets her back on her feet.

"Kate. Kate. Thank god you're okay."

"You're here." She breathes out, trembling hands cradling his cheeks, and then she's smudging his mouth with her kiss.

He walks her backwards until she's leaning against the side of the boys' cruiser, his forehead bowed at hers, and he kisses her hard. Even with the woods watching. When he eventually breaks away his cheeks are wet with both of their tears, but she's smiling at him.

"Castle." She says, and then nothing more. He knows that feeling all too well, the stumbling block of a name. How everything else can be contained inside of it.

He tucks her hair back behind her ears. Wet and lank, and her face is scraped raw. There's the glisten of ointment the EMTs must have given her, but she winces when he touches her temple just underneath the bloom of pain. "What happened to you? Kate."

"I can't- I'll have to give a statement. Don't want to have to go through it twice."

She bites her lip, looks up at him with so much trepidation. As if he would ever force her to tell him anyway. Well, yes, so in the early days of their togetherness they did fight about her refusal to share. But this isn't that. It's so very, very different.

"We've got your fleece." He says instead, peeling her out of the coat that has been carelesasasly draped over her shoulders. He pulls open the rear door of the cruiser and reaches inside, finds the thick NYPD sweater she keeps in her locker at the precinct.

The one she wore when he pulled her out of the Hudson, and just like then her hair is sodden. Only this time, he gets to kiss her. He gets to knot their fingers together and keep her close at his side, feel the way she squeezes when the boys come back over to them.

"Beckett, glad you're okay." Esposito says gruffly, drawing her in for a brusque hug. "You good to head back to the precinct?"

"Yes. Please." She nods.

The four of them pile inside of the cruiser, Beckett in the middle seat instead of next to the window so she can lean against his side. Her cheek pillows against his bicep and she plays with his fingers where they rest at his thigh, smoothing over his hand again and again like collecting cobwebs.

"I wrote you a letter." She mumbles, quiet enough that the boys won't hear from up front. "CSU are gonna find it. I don't want you to read it when they do."

"Okay. I won't." He promises, a little surprised to discover that he has no desire to do so. A letter that she wrote for him, thinking that he'd be reading it after her death?

Yeah. . .that's not something he needs.

"It's about how much I love you. How this – us - is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me." She murmurs, grinning when his face goes slack with shock.

She kisses him, tender and a little apologetic, and the daring sweep of her tongue at his bottom lip brings his words flooding back. "Me too, Kate. I love you, too."

He waits until she closes her eyes, and then he lets his own slide shut as well.

It's over.

* * *

**Tumblr:** katiehoughton

**Twitter:** seilleanmor


	2. The Good, The Bad & The Baby

_**The Good, The Bad & The Baby**_** – Thanksgiving dinner**

* * *

"Oh this is so exciting! Our family is just growing by leaps and bounds; if we keep this up darling we're going to need a bigger table." Kate hears Martha say, exuberant as ever. The four of them have been busy preparing dinner all evening and Beckett has had to swat her fiancé away every time he tried to get a look at what she was putting in the killer stuffing she boasted to him about earlier.

Eventually, she managed to send him scurrying off with his tail between his legs when she made something up about feeling like he doesn't trust her cooking skills. She had hammed up the emotion, let her face transform into a mask of hurt for a moment and Castle had kissed her, soft and apologetic before he went away.

It gave her time to plot with Martha, heads bent together as they whispered their plans. Castle's mother had picked up his costume on her way home earlier and hidden it on the couch; he's been so distracted with the food and the teasing touches Kate keeps brushing over the skin of his waist that he hasn't even noticed.

Once all of the food was almost done, Kate slipped away to get ready, and now she's hovering by the door of their bedroom, listening to the chatter of their family. "Exactly twenty minutes till turkey time."

"Pi is on his way, and Beckett's dad just called. He'll be here any minute." Alexis says, and it sends a frisson of delight through her. Usually at Thanksgiving, she and her father head upstate to visit Aunt Theresa. Her father's sister is kind enough, but there's always a gloomy undercurrent to the festivities. Johanna's absence is conspicuous during the holidays, and it's hard on both Kate and Jim.

Not this year. This year, the Castles have opened their arms to Beckett and her father and she's unspeakably grateful for it.

"Excellent, and where's Beckett?" She hears Castle say and draws in a deep breath, closing her eyes for just a moment. That's her cue.

Stepping out of the bedroom, she strides across the loft in bare feet to meet her fiancé and his family in the kitchen. The costume is so very uncomfortable, the label inside of it itching at her ribs, but Castle's gaze seems to be stuck on the twin pigtails that hang down past her shoulders.

"Katherine, what on earth are you wearing?" Martha says, playing up her shock, and Kate has to avoid the older woman's eyes so she doesn't laugh. The two of them had great fun plotting this out, trading text messages back and forth whenever Kate could carve out a minute in the midst of her case. Which was fairly easy, what with Castle constantly being distracted by baby Benny.

Martha had not only heard her son's less than favourable words about her cooking; she had also heard him lay a trap for Kate. Together, they decided to bait him, let him think he'd been successful in embarrassing her, only to turn that embarrassment on its head.

"My outfit, your family tradition?" She stutters out, pinning her fiancé under a scrutinous gaze.

He at least has the decency to look faintly guilty, even as he rakes his eyes over her outfit and the corner of his mouth quirks upwards in amusement. "Yeeaaah. . .you do know I was kidding about that, right?"

"You know, I actually wasn't sure about that, so I figured if this isn't a Castle family tradition then maybe it should be." Kate says sardonically, reaching for the costume and pushing it against his chest. "Better put this on, pilgrim."

Striding past him, she gives Martha a high five and heads around the table to curl an arm at Alexis' waist, squeezing Castle's daughter close. She'd explained the plan while Castle was using the bathroom earlier, so Alexis has been well aware of his imminent shame.

"It's really great to have you here, Kate." She murmurs, offering Beckett a soft smile. "Usually I have to prank Dad on my own, so it's nice to have help."

Wheeling around on the spot, Rick pouts at the three of them even as he's still clutching the costume to his chest. "Really? You're gonna make me wear this?"

"You deserve much worse, my boy." Martha laughs, patting her son's chest on her way to join Beckett and Alexis. Castle's mother sets a hand at Kate's shoulder and squeezes, frowning at her son. "Honestly Richard, what possessed you to be so cruel to your wonderful fiancée?"

His face falls at that and he gapes at Kate, that furrow between his brows that she so loves to soothe away with the touch of his mouth. "I didn't mean to be cruel. Kate-"

"I know." She murmurs, striding back towards him and lacing her arms at his waist. Behind them, she can hear the sounds of Martha ushering Alexis away to give the two of them some privacy, and her heart soars in gratitude. Tact is probably not an attribute high up on the list one would credit Martha Rodgers with, but Castle's mother has gotten closer than ever to Kate since the engagement, and she's pretty good at being able to tell what Beckett needs, now.

Castle's mouth skims her hairline, her cheek, before his lips meet hers. His kiss is gentle and reverent, sending a cold wash of cleansing delight through her. When she breaks away, it's only to palm his cheek and smile softly up at him. "I didn't think you were being _cruel_, exactly. But it was sort of like you were taking advantage of the fact that I don't know your family's traditions. I'm not really. . .a part of it."

"I'm so sorry, Kate. I didn't think of it that way. For the record, that was never my intention. I just wanted to have some fun, tease you a little bit."

He shrugs, and then he makes his eyebrows dance and rakes his eyes down her body, humming appreciatively. It makes her flush and she swats at him, turns to head back to the bedroom. "Stop it. I have to go change before Dad and Pi get here. But maybe if you're very good, I'll try it on again later."

"Hey, what a coincidence!" Her fiancé smirks, following hot on her heels as she moves for the bedroom. "I have to change too. No way am I wearing _plaid_ for Thanksgiving dinner with my future father-in-law."

She turns back around just in time to catch his wrinkled nose, the look of true disdain on his face, and she stops him with a finger at his chest. Trailing all the way down to his waist and around, she slips her hand into the back pocket of his jeans and squeezes. "I like you in plaid."

"Stop it." He grumbles, snatching her mischievous hand and pushing it against her own chest. Skirting her body where she's blocking the doorframe, he heads for the closet, shrugging off clothes as he goes. "I assume Mother and Alexis are going to change, too? I did wonder why they looked so pilgrimy."

"Alexis is, yes." Kate sinks to sit at the end of their bed, drawing her legs up underneath her as she starts unwinding one of the pigtail braids. "Castle. . .she asked me to help her pick out her dress earlier today."

He pokes his head back out of the closet at that to stare at her, his face alight with wonder, and then he comes striding right out with his button down shirt only half fastened and he pushes a hot and devastating kiss against her mouth, almost knocking her flat against the mattress with the force of it.

"My daughter likes you." He breathes against her mouth, nimble fingers heading south and slowly drawing up the hem of her costume.

It takes her a moment to muster the willpower, but then she gets her palms against his chest and pushes him away from her. "I know. And we will celebrate that later, I promise. But we really need to change and get back out there. Unless you want my dad to know what we were doing?"

"No, no. I'm dressed, I'm dressed." He cries, so much melodrama in his everyday life. Castle finishes up the rest of his buttons and tugs on his slacks, fastening his belt and checking himself over in the mirror. Once he's satisfied, he turns back to Kate and the latent adoration on his face makes her heart pound. "I'll see you out there. For the record, you make a breathtaking Pocahontas."

"Thank you." She hums, standing up from the bed and peeling the costume up over the top of her head. In just her underwear, she presses her body close to his and lifts up on tiptoe, brushing a barely-there kiss against his mouth. "Now, _go_. Host."

He scurries off without any further prompting from her and she hears the knock at the door as she's slipping her dress over her head. Stepping into her heels, Kate pins her hair half-up, letting a few stray pieces come loose to fall around her face, and heads out into the living room to join her family.

Apparently her father and Pi met in the lobby and took the elevator up together; they haven't met before and she's almost disappointed that she didn't get to watch that particular encounter. Her father must hear the clack of her heels against the hardwood because he excuses himself from his conversation with Rick and turns to face her.

"Katie-bug, there you are. You look beautiful."

"Thanks, Dad." She blushes, catching her fiancé's eye over her father's shoulder. Castle grins at her, lifting his eyebrows and nodding in agreement with her dad. "Can I get you a drink?"

"I got it!" Martha calls out and Jim laughs, heading to join Castle's mother in the kitchen when she beckons him.

Alexis and Pi are canoodling over by the couch and Kate plants her hands at Castle's biceps when he tries to turn and grumble at them, holds him firmly in place. "Don't you dare. It's Thanksgiving. Leave them alone."

"Distract me?" He says, and although it's playful there's a note of real need there too. Circling her thumbs at the crease where his arms meet his shoulders, Kate leans in and kisses him softly. Mindful of both of their parents and Castle's daughter in very close proximity, but enough that he should at least stop thinking about how Alexis and Pi are probably doing the exact same thing.

And really, they should probably get used to kissing with their families watching. In just a few short months, they'll do so in front of all of the people they care about, and she'll be wearing a white dress. The thought makes her smile and her excitement is infectious; when she tugs her mouth away Castle is grinning too.

"This is my best Thanksgiving ever."

"Me too." She hums to him, and then Martha's attracting everyone's attention again when she opens the oven and proclaims to her son that the bird is ready for his attentions.

* * *

By the time dessert is done with, Castle feels like he may actually explode. He does tend to glut himself on Thanksgiving dinner – it's just so _good_ – and later he'll probably pass out in a stupor. But hopefully, when he does so he'll have the sleepy, cat-like warmth of his fiancée at his side.

Ha, that's good too. Cat-like for Kate. He huffs a laugh, gets a raised eyebrow from Beckett. She doesn't even fully turn to face him, engrossed in conversation with Pi about something he's not even listening too, but that's even better. Just the sharp flare of her attention to encompass him and then spooling back in to focus on Alexis' boyfriend again.

Rick catches his mother wringing her hands and groans, leaning back in his chair and pressing a hand to his forehead. That action from her always precludes some sort of declaration and he holds his breath, waiting for it.

"So, Richard, Katherine. You two seemed to take rather well to the whole parenting lark, I thought. Should I be expecting an expansion of my brood of grandchildren in the near future?"

Kate's cheeks flame and she buries her head in her hands, groaning when Jim chortles a laugh. "Parenting, Katie?"

"There was a baby involved with the case we just closed and Castle and I took care of him for a couple days. That's all, Dad." She hastens to explain. He's at the head of the table, but rather than being bracketed by redheads he has his daughter on one side and Kate on the other, so she's near enough to snake her hand underneath the table and dig her nails into his thigh.

He yelps, jerking in his chair and pouting at her, but she's sending him a pleading look, and then he understands. It's one thing to talk hypothetically about it with him, quite another to make any definitive statements in the presence of her father.

Interestingly enough, it's Alexis who saves the day. "I hardly count as a brood, Gram. And maybe you should at least wait until after the wedding before you start on the baby crusade?"

"I'm just teasing, darlings." Martha laughs, waving her hand in the air so her bracelets clack together.

The conversation shifts, moving to Pi's research instead, but Rick is still hopelessly ensnared in the image of Kate Beckett holding a baby, Kate Beckett murmuring soothing nonsense into the shell of the tiny ear and grinning at him from over top of the soft little head.

He wants it, so badly. Right from that case with the missing little girl the first year they met, he's known that Kate Beckett is going to be the most incredible mother. Back then, he was intrigued for days, wondering whether that was part of her life plan. Whether it had been once, but had been snatched away from her just as easily as her mother was. He did a pretty terrible job of convincing himself that his fascination was purely professional curiosity.

Now, he knows for sure that if Kate ever does have kids, it will be with him. He'll be the lucky man who gets to share in that with her, gets to watch her blossom as a mother. Leaning over the table, he manages to get his mouth against her ear and she shudders, her hand coming up to let her fingers circle his wrist.

"Just for that, my mother will be the last person we tell when you get pregnant, deal?"

"Deal."


End file.
